Consort
by jessara40k
Summary: Set in my Cetra Restoration AU, includes slavery and references a submissive Sephiroth. This is the story of how Zack and Aeris get together after Cloud gave Zack to Aeris in Birthday Gift.
1. Chapter 1

Zack, I'm going to need you to support me when I dismiss Isis and tell her I'm taking legal action against her." Aeris felt a bit embarrassed at needing Zack to help her deal with her teacher, but Isis...even though she wasn't much of a healer she intimidated Aeris very easily, and Aeris had no idea why.

"Whatever you need my lady. It's my duty to protect you however I can." Aeris smiled at Zack's simple answer, perhaps she should have expected it, but it was nice to know she had someone who'd support her in everything and any way possible, it could probably be intoxicating in the right circumstances.

"Come with me then." She'd arranged to meet with Isis in one of the few rooms she hadn't put any of her plants; one of the offices dedicated to Cloud's advisors, but unused and somewhere she'd probably never visit again so she didn't have to worry about being caught by memories of this confrontation. One of the promises she'd made Sephiroth in apology for not warning him about Tseng was that he could watch her dismiss Isis, so it wasn't a surprise to see him waiting for them; what _did_ surprise her was his appearance, and she could tell it surprised Zack as well.

Sephiroth's hair was pinned up with combs and pins set with emeralds in a more elaborate style than he usually used for formal events - except for an artfully loose strand and something Aeris couldn't quite pin down that made it look as if he'd come straight from someone's bed. Aeris couldn't quite be sure underneath the veil, but she thought he'd painted his face as well; and even if he would probably never have her sense for it Sephiroth was technically perfect in applying make-up. She hadn't seen many consorts who wore veils - that was more something concubines did and they were always left behind, but she was pretty sure it was supposed to cover more of Sephiroth's hair than this one did. And Aeris didn't want to know where Sephiroth had gotten the loose black pants and half cloak that were all he wore under the veil, although she had to admit that even with the hint of sandalwood mixed into his usual cinnamon scent he smelled good. He'd put the scent on more heavily than usual, even for the formal occasion that were normally all he wore it for and he'd preserved his nail polish overnight, even adding elaborate little patterns in gold. In short he looked and smelled like the perfect bedtoy, and it raised an uncomfortable frission of arousal in Aeris.

It would be best to settle one matter now, since she'd learned that she _could_ desire her brother, even though she knew it was a bad idea. She walked over to kneel in front of him, where he curled in the only chair in the office suitable for it, and rested a hand on his thigh through the veil in subtle suggestion.

"Do you remember that offer I made when Cloud turned sixteen? If you want to take me up on it now's the time." A hint of shock spread over Sephiroth's face at that, visible even though the veil - or perhaps Aeris only thought so because she could _feel_ how deeply she'd shocked him, and he glanced over at Zack before responding.

"No, I...I've come to care for Tseng. I do not desire you, even if you desire me." Aeris could hear the hint of fear in Sephiroth's voice as he said that and she could sense him gathering his courage as he paused. "You were right about my feeling more comfortable with Tseng than I would with a concubine Cloud had chosen himself. Tseng is a very good secondary and I doubt I could have chosen better.

"Please, get up." Sephiroth put his hands around Aeris' upper arms to help her up, and almost lifted her to her feet before she got the chance to help herself, despite how awkward that had to be for him. Glancing at Zack as she took the only other chair in the room Aeris could see confusion and a determination _not_ to ask.

"You wished to see me Aeris?" Isis stood in front of Aeris with a poise that told her how confident her tutor was that she'd done a good job in teaching her charge.

"Yes. Obviously I no longer need your services as a tutor. In fact I had learned all you could teach me of healing three years ago. There is no further place for you in my household and so you are dismissed from my service."

Isis was clearly shocked speechless by that, and Aeris could feel that Sephiroth was taking as much pleasure in Isis' discomfort as she was. Aeris knew that the smile on her face looked more like something you'd see on the face of a warrior caste closing for the kill.

"And further, you have failed to teach me a number of the _other_ things I was supposed to learn from you - did not even _attempt_ in many cases to teach the things outside of healing, and worse - you skewed what little of Cetra traditions you _did_ teach me in a perverse way. I give you notification that I have kept a record of your failures and the times you have misled me. I intend to take all legal measures available to me against you."

"What? Why? You have _no_ grounds for that." Aeris enjoyed Isis' momentary display of shock and discomfort, but she wasn't sure exactly how to respond to the blatant way she lied after she pulled herself together. Fortunately _she_ didn't have to.

"Yes, she does. And Cloud will be joining Aeris in the suit as a second complainant. You were chosen as the tutor for the Planet's Heart because you are low nobility," Isis' mother had been the consort of a warrior caste Cetra, and she'd taken after her mother in many ways, "giving you the background Morgan lacks which was intended to allow you to pass on the social conventions among the high nobility to both Aeris _and_ to Cloud." Since it was a _lot_ easier for a very talented healer to learn from a less talented teacher than it was for a swordmaster to teach a vastly superior pupil.

"What would _you_ know about anything you worthless mongrel slut?" _Aeris_ flinched at the fury and hatred in Isis' words, but her brother just closed his eyes for a moment before replying.

"I asked Cloud's tutor why you had been chosen to teach Aeris once your limitations had become apparent. That was the answer he gave me, and I should think he would know." How often had Sephiroth endured Isis' abuse to answer so calmly? And why hadn't Aeris noticed and done something about it?

"You had no right to pry into my affairs like that freak." And now Sephiroth flinched, not physically, but Aeris could feel how that one word had hurt him, more than Isis' earlier slander of his morals and ancestry. She stood and walked over to sit on the arm of his chair, resting an arm around his shoulders in support and earning a grateful smile. No matter how much she wanted to deal with Isis herself she knew that if she shielded Sephiroth from the bitch he'd think it meant she didn't think he could defend himself, and that would hurt him far more deeply than anything Isis could do would.

"I had every right, and more than that; I had the duty to. The Planet's Heart herself named me her brother, and as by any reckoning I was adult by the time I inquired as to your background it was my duty to do what I could to see that she was being properly taught. It was little enough, I admit, but I did what I could do. I held the same responsibility as the Planet's Weapon's promised consort, even if I did not realise you held any duty to teach him when I made my enquiries."

"When her mother and guardian still lives you claim it was _your_ duty to sneak around and ask about my background? Hardly." Now Aeris thought she could get away with intervening herself.

"According to your own teachings it is equally the duty of all adult members of a family to see to the education of the children of the family. Or are you now declaring that you flat out lied in what you taught me?" Aeris stood, smiling at the way she'd turned Isis' own words against her as she moved back to her own chair.

"I can't believe you name that crisis spawn your brother-"

"And using terms like that is the reason my lord wishes me to inform you that he fully intends to launch a suit against you for abuse of his consort." Aeris liked hearing that, knowing that even if for some reason her suit failed to absolutely ruin Isis Cloud's suit would help destroy her reputation totally.

"As if anyone else would be stupid enough to care about a monster like you."

"I'm a consort; Cloud's suit against you will be tried by warrior caste - and they're wired to protect any and all consorts, they think of us as fragile little things. Especially when they hear about the way I've been limited there's no way you can win."

"Are you implying that I am stupid, for loving my brother, for respecting the price he paid to get me and my mother away from Hojo?" Aeris let her voice go icy as she spoke to Isis, feeling coldly furious at those words. "How many other times have you tried to undermine me and undermine Cloud, or insulted us like that? Sephiroth is worth a hundred, no a thousand of you."

Isis raised her hands, stepping towards Aeris as she made incoherent sounds of fury, but then Zack grabbed hold of her wrists in one hand and slung Isis over his shoulder, moving her wrists until he could hold them behind her back.

"Will you want me to take her to Cloud's guards, to place her under arrest for trying to attack you my lady?"

"No, just take her to her quarters where she can pack her things and leave. Under the circumstances I don't care if she's got anywhere to go; I want her out of my home by sunset." Aeris hesitated, then walked over to Zack and slid her arms around his waist in a quick hug. "Thank you for getting rid of her for me."


	2. Chapter 2

Zack looked down at his mistress with a frown; it went against all his training to leave her alone like this, even though she shared the security forces who served Cloud.

"And you promise you'll be careful while I can't be there to guard you?" He hadn't expected the way she giggled and threw her arms around his waist in a hug although he was starting to get used to how..._nonsexually_ tactile she was compared to his previous owners.

"Yes silly, of course I'll be careful, now go on; Cloud's security people are waiting for you." She let go of him, resting her hands on his chest to push away from him.

"As you wish my lady." He _still_ didn't like the idea of leaving Aeris, no matter how necessary he knew it was, but he didn't know why not. He'd never minded leaving his previous owners alone, even if he was supposed to be their bodyguard; in fact he'd often been relieved to get away from them. But then, all of his previous owners had considered bodyguard a euphemism for 'fuck-toy', Aeris all too clearly didn't - in fact the only man he'd seen her express any sexual interest in was her brother, Sephiroth, and even then he'd got the impression her offer was more along the lines of paying a debt than true desire. He turned and made his way to the communications centre for his lesson in co-ordinating with Cloud's people.

"Zack." He saluted Sephiroth's bodyguard, trying to hide his surprise and knowing he wasn't making a very good job of it. But he knew that Morgan was Sephiroth's only _official_ bodyguard, and considering how devoted most of the people here seemed to be to the consort it seemed odd that he'd be willing to take the time to teach Zack. "Don't be so shocked. The _first_ thing you need to learn is that one bodyguard _can't_ do all the work of guarding anyone. When your protectee - that would be Aeris for you - is in a _secure_ location you don't need to guard them all the time."

"Right..." This was Zack's very first time as a Cetra's first bodyguard, and he was pretty sure that he was young for it; he certainly didn't feel ready for it, and he'd take whatever advice he could get. "How do you define a secure location, and how much guarding do our...protectees _need_ in them?"

"With Sephiroth...it's really just here that's secure. For now you should act like the same applies to Aeris; as you get more experience you'll learn what places you can consider secure for her. If she's somewhere secure then you only need to be with her when she leaves the building or the secure area, or she can be accompanied by someone you decide's trustworthy to protect her. You can make up a list of people like that as you get to know us better."

"I can't recruit more men myself?" All the other Cetra he'd belonged to had kept a number of bodyguards, not just one, and Aeris _was_ the Planet's Heart.

"You can ask Aeris for her permission to recruit more men, but what sort of men you get will depend on what she's willing to authorise." Morgan shrugged as he spoke. "For now you're probably better off relying on us to assist."

"Yes sir." Zack only remembered _then_ that he was speaking to a warrior caste Cetra and a slave shouldn't be speaking so familiarly to _any_ Cetra. He certainly shouldn't be questioning Morgan's judgement the way he had - not even by implication. Zack _felt_ much too young for the responsibilities Aeris had given him, all the lead bodyguards he'd served under had been much older, and they hadn't taught him much, acting almost like they considered him more entertainment for their protectee than anything else.

"You can speak freely to me; you don't need to bow and scrape because you're a slave. Cloud would have dismissed me if I was stupid enough to disregard your brains just because of your social status. By some interpretations _you_ outrank me, since your protectee outranks mine but I know you're not dumb enough to think that way."

"No, I'm not." Zack shook his head, he knew his eyes were wide with shock at the thought, but he didn't care; he _wanted_ Morgan to see that he'd never be so presumptuous. "If nothing else you've got a lot more experience than I have and I'm just hoping you'll be willing to pass that experience on if I can learn from you."

"I'd get Cloud and Sephiroth pissed off at me if I didn't. And I'm not sure which would be worse. Cloud's...well, you know what sort of a fighter he is, and there's other things he could do, but the servants and slaves almost worship Sephiroth, most of us adore him as well." Us...he meant Cloud's guards, and Zack could suddenly see just why Morgan was worried about displeasing Sephiroth, even though a sizable minority of the Cetra seemed to hate him. It was pretty obvious that _Morgan_ liked Sephiroth too, and something about the way Zack had seen him act around Sephiroth seemed to be a bit more than just the normal protectiveness of a good bodyguard.

"Sometimes it hurts more when it's someone you care about who's mad at you." Not that Zack had much experience with that, except for once when he'd been friends with another guard, who got angry with him over the fact that their owner had decided to rape Zack instead of him.

"Yes. Let's start with the most important thing about working with us; you _need_ to _communicate_. If you need help don't be afraid to ask for it, remember we're willing to help you protect Aeris, and we can, but only if you _ask_ for what you need."

"I'll do my best to remember that."

"Don't just do your best, _do_ it. The Planet's Heart is important to us all, but we can't help if you don't tell us how we _can_." Morgan sighed then, and shook his head. "I'll remind you when I can. For now let's move on to _how_ you communicate with us. The training equipment is this way." He turned away and Zack followed him obediently to a room with a table in the middle with what looked like a personal comm., a small blue box and a set of books resting on it.

"Have you had any experience with personal comm.s at all?"

"Yes, it was part of my initial training as a bodyguard."

"Good." Morgan handed the personal comm. from the table over to Zack then, except when he took hold of it he could tell that it wasn't what it seemed to be - too heavy for one thing. "Then all you need to learn is our comm.s protocols, and codes. Turn that on and set it to the correct frequency according to this book." The book he gave Zack was thin, little more than a booklet, and it left another booklet and a slightly thicker book on the table.

"Can I have a moment to look through it then?" But he was already opening the booklet, leafing through to find the frequencies on the back of the inside cover.

"Go ahead, but not too long." Morgan sounded amused, and Zack quickly turned the 'personal comm.' on, setting it to the frequency specified for communication between him and the general guard pool. It made a sound like a bell ringing once. "Good enough. That's channel one for you. You can keep that, for practice, and you'll be issued a true personal comm. the first time you have to take Aeris out of the palace. If it buzzes when you set the frequency then it isn't a frequency we use at all, if it makes the sound of a trumpet then it isn't a frequency you're meant to use, and if you hear a bell ringing the number of times it rings indicates which channel that is for you. Was that clear?"

"Pretty clear; a buzz or a trumpet means I'm on the wrong frequency and a bell ringing means I've found one of the right frequencies. The number of times it rings tells me which channel I've found."

"Good. We use codes and code names when we communicate; you can find them all in this book," the thicker of the two, "and this device includes stored responses for when you practise your communications drills which are the scenarios listed in this book." Morgan laid a hand on the blue box to illustrate which device he meant, then handed the thin booklet to Zack. "The drills should lead you through using all the codes you're likely to need to use. The first one is a simple hourly check of the perimeter guard. You can use channel one, and the codes you'll need are on the first page of the code book. Let me see you go through it."

"Yes sir. Err...can I have..."

"I'll give you ten minutes alone to prepare, but I expect you to manage the scenario without using your code book."

"Right." Zack looked in the protocol booklet first, to check how he was supposed to open communications and close them; then he checked the drills booklet and finally he opened the code book. The code names given were...enlightening. It wasn't surprising that Cloud was coded as the Sword, Zack didn't _quite_ understand why Aeris was called the Staff, but he'd heard stories about how travelling healers would use staffs to make it easier to walk over difficult country. The code book said that they called Sephiroth the Jewel, and Zack could see just how much most of Cloud's people treasured him in that name.

"Well, are you ready?"

"Yes sir." Zack switched the 'personal comm.' to transmit and spoke into it. "Shield calling all Watch units. Report by number. Over." Back to receptive only mode.

"Watch 1 ready. Over." Zack hesitated for a moment before switching to transmit again, then he carried on with the drill when nothing seemed to indicate he was doing anything wrong.

"Shield here. Acknowledged Watch 1. Report. Over."

"Watch 1 all clear. Over and out."

"Watch 2 ready. Over."

"Shield here. Acknowledged Watch 2. Report. Over."

"Watch 2 all clear. Over and out."

"Watch 3 ready. Over."

"Shield here. Acknowledged Watch 3. Report. Over."

"Watch 3 all clear. Over and out."

"Watch 4 ready. Over."

"Shield here. Acknowledged Watch 4. Report. Over."

"Watch 4 all clear. Over and out."

"Shield here. All Watch units clear. Acknowledged. Over and out." He glanced over to Morgan, to see how well he'd done, but he couldn't tell from the blank look on the Cetra's face, and so Zack shut the personal comm. down.

"Good. If you did anything badly wrong you'd have got a buzzing sound. But you took a bit too long to respond to Watch 1's initial contact. That would have worried them in the field. Take all of this and practice with it; when you can manage any drill without referring to the code book, or studying immediately beforehand come to me and I'll find you someone who can teach you more."

"Yes sir, and thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

Zack had been surprised how quickly it became routine for him to guard Aeris when she was attending the opening of a new hospital, or other stuff like that, but he did his very best not to get careless because of that. He really didn't like it that one wing was still covered in scaffolding; that it obviously wasn't _quite_ complete, but Aeris had ignored his protest and insisted on going ahead with the opening as scheduled. He hadn't really known how to counter her argument that she was on a tight schedule, and putting the opening off until those last little touches had been finished on the final wing would keep her from attending it. That probably wouldn't have mattered with any other hospital, but apparently Ifalna Gast was her birth mother's name, and so Zack wasn't surprised that the hospital named after her was special to Aeris.

They were making their way through the crowds to where two of Cloud's guards were waiting, keeping four chocobos ready for them to leave, when there was a loud crashing sound. Zack spun, hand going automatically to his sword, but Aeris broke into a run _towards_ the fallen scaffolding, where one man lay pinned and clearly injured beneath it.

"Sir, I'm sorry. We've never had any problems with the scaffolding before and the building company's been very reliable in completing the hospital ahead of time." One of the reasons it had taken so long for a hospital to be built honouring Aeris' mother was her insistence that _humans_ had to be the ones to offer that honour, to organise the project and build the hospital, then run it later. Zack _got_ why the administrator was so anxious; this had never happened before and this was the first time humans had been the ones to organise everything, but she was getting in his way.

"Talk to _them_ lady." But he could see she wasn't listening, and from the way she was clutching at his sleeve she was probably frightened of the two Cetra. Her reasons didn't matter; she was encumbering him, and stopping him getting to Aeris. He pulled her off him, and threw her to the side, but before he got more than three steps towards Aeris he was attacked by half a dozen men jumping out of the crowd.

He killed the first two quickly enough, buying himself time for a swift glance around. The two Cetra were under attack as well, a dozen men fighting each Cetra, attacking in doubled pairs and pulling back to let another group attack as the Cetra adjusted to the first group. But it was the man who'd come out of the fallen scaffolding to attack Aeris that concerned Zack most and in panic he threw a Bolt2 at him. He turned his attention back to his own fight, and killed all four of his opponents before it occurred to him that they needed _someone_ to question.

"Capture one of those men, we need someone to question." He shouted at the Cetra behind him, relieved to see that they'd killed almost two thirds of their attackers already. "And detain that woman who grabbed at me before; she might know something."

"Yes sir!" That shouldn't still be so dizzying for him; it was dangerous that he could be distracted by hearing a Cetra call him 'sir', distracted enough that he paused before trying to fight his way through the crowd of watchers. They'd turned into a mob, panicked by the men attacking Zack, and he didn't want to hurt them, to disappoint Aeris like that. But...there wasn't anyone else waiting to attack her, and there weren't any more men coming out of the crowd to attack Zack. No one was taking advantage of the confusion to try any sort of sneak attack either, thank all the gods.

He used his strength to force his way through the crowd, moving people by brute force when he had to, mind racing; he'd _considered_ some sort of terrorist organisation, or other group planning and carrying out an organised attempt on Aeris' life, but he'd never taken the idea seriously. No one had; all of his training since he'd been given to Aeris had been geared to the idea of a lone crazy making some suicidal attempt to kill her, but that didn't absolve him of responsibility, he'd been sworn to protect her in a way none of the others had.

Aeris was struggling against the hold of the man she'd been trying to heal! He couldn't get his knife to her throat, or anywhere else lethal, but he was keeping her from pulling away from him...and Zack was relieved to see that at least she hadn't healed him enough that he could use his legs. That was probably the only reason she had managed to keep away from him so well, because she could fight with her whole body, and that crazy bastard was limited to just using his arms.

Zack snatched her from the man's hand's easily, knocking him out, without really caring whether he'd survive or not...he was certain the Cetra Cloud had lent to guard the Planet's Heart could capture one of their attackers for questioning. He held Aeris against him as he moved to check on the man he'd hit with his spell, feeling slightly disappointed to see that he was alive. But it would give them someone else to question...although he didn't feel competent to organise the questioning himself Zack was sure that Cloud had people who could do so to help protect Aeris.

"My lady, do you have any way of ensuring that these two remain unconscious while we transport them?"

"Yes, a healer's stasis spell. It will keep them alive as well, and you won't have to worry about taking care in transporting them." Not that he would have, but Aeris probably already knew that, and if she didn't he felt no obligation to tell her.

"Thank you." He didn't need to ask her to cast it, because she was already doing so, and once she'd finished he picked one man up, slinging him over a shoulder and walked back to where the Cetra Cloud had assigned to help protect Aeris were. They'd finished dealing with their opponents, and from the blood on their beaks and talons the chocobos had helped, although Zack hadn't realised they were trained for that.

"Did you really think Cloud would allow anyone guarding his sister to ride anything less than a war-trained bird?" He sounded curious, but not contemptuous, and Zack forced himself to smile back at the man.

"It wasn't something I thought about Eldran. Can one of you each take a prisoner in front of you as we ride? Our lady should ride with me, if she consents, and I was planning to tie this one and the other prisoner she used a healer's stasis spell on over the back of the fourth chocobo."

"You are my bodyguard; whatever steps you feel necessary to ensure my safety will be undertaken, so long as they do not interfere in my safety."

"Thank you for your trust my lady." Was this the right time? Zack glanced around and decided that yes, everything was under control. "But I failed you this time." He knelt as he spoke, and bowed his head, not really caring that they were in public; slaves did not possess any sense of dignity to be injured by such things as this. "I stand ready to accept any punishment you choose to inflict."

"Zack..." She seemed lost for words, and then she bent to wrap her arms around his shoulders in a strained hug. "You didn't fail me. You saved me when my own foolishness and need to heal would have killed me. Get up, please." She began pulling him to his feet, and he obeyed the implied command. She glanced over at the human who'd been in charge of organising the building of the hospital, a hint of worry on her face. "I..."

"Don't worry, she won't be questioned harshly, unless we're given reason to think she was involved. In fact...I heard some healer caste are empathic, could you be there to see she's treated right and detect if she's lying?"

"Yes, thank you. That will make me feel better." Zack nodded and went to collect the last prisoner before they made their way back to the palace.


	4. Chapter 4

Aeris hated the fact that she so rarely had time to take care of her plants any more, but at least she'd made sure that there were people trained to take over from her, because she'd known how much of her time her duties would take up. And she took care of them when she had time; she _made_ time for some special plants, special because they needed unusual conditions or because they were new, or gifts from Sephiroth. But today she couldn't really do that, since she preferred to keep her plants to the life cycle best suited to the local climate rather than deliberately altering the cycles to force them to bloom in winter for example, and there was no productive attention she could give them now.

So, she'd come to this isolated window to enjoy one of her oldest winter pastimes, watching the snow fall on Midgar. It had been this which had told her that they were _really_ free of Hojo and his labs when she was five, after Sephiroth had helped them escape, apologising for the timing, because security had been relaxed a bit during the Winter Solstice Festival. Before then she'd only seen snow in pictures, and hadn't believed something so beautiful could be real. Her first mother had been dead by the end of that winter, living just long enough to see that Aeris was taken in and adopted by Elmyra Gainsborough, her second mother and more her mother in some ways than Ifalna, even though, or perhaps _because_ she'd _never_ tried to replace Ifalna. And even after she died Ifalna had told Aeris tales, tales of her father sometimes, and tales from Cetra history, or Cetra who'd sacrificed themselves to serve the Planet, but most often she'd told Aeris about how Sephiroth had risked himself to help them escape, even after her father had left him to suffer.

She knew full well that it was her insistence on recounting _that_ story to anyone who'd listen that had won over enough support for the older Cetra to accept that Cloud had every right to demand Sephiroth become his promised consort. And she hated thinking of what sort of price he must have paid for his decision to help them escape, and his refusal to escape with them, because that would bring ShinRa after the three of them in far more force and with far more effort than had been devoted to just Ifalna and Aeris. She shivered at the memory of how cold and almost cruel Hojo had been, of the way he'd looked at her as an interesting specimen, an unusual crossbreed and nothing more, even though he hadn't wanted to experiment on her _then_ and wondered what he'd have done to her if he'd ever gotten her in his power again.

A strong arm wrapped about her shoulders then, pulling her back against a warm muscular chest, and she relaxed in the one-armed hug her bodyguard was giving her, comfortable enough with him to do so after the last nine months. But she didn't turn to look at him, preferring to focus on the beauty of the landscape outside, and by now he knew her well enough not to be offended by that.

"Cold? Or something else?" But he wouldn't be offended if she didn't say anything and that was reason enough for her to answer him.

"Bad memories. I was remembering how much I loved seeing snow for the first time, after my brother helped us escape from Hojo, and that made me think of what he was like, and imagine what he must have done to Sephiroth for helping us. He could have escaped himself, but if he had my mother would have kept him with us, and ShinRa would have hunted for us even harder, so he stayed behind in that sterile hell to protect us."

"I'm not surprised. He is brave, and so are you." Aeris smiled and shut her eyes for a moment, leaning back against Zack in trust and wrapping her hands around his arm, appreciating his perception, since so many people tended to dismiss Sephiroth's courage now, simply because he was a consort.

"Thank you. Even when all I knew about snow was from what Sephiroth sometimes said about Nibelheim before my father left him there and from pictures I thought it was beautiful. And it's especially beautiful when it falls on Midgar, hiding all the dirt and how in some places it's falling apart, because we _had_ to get as many people out of that place as we could."

"Because of all the pollution, and how ShinRa drained the life from the area you mean? There's something I don't get though, why build the palace and the main slave-trading hall here, so close to Midgar?"

"A reminder for us of the greatest scar on the face of the Planet that we need to heal somehow, and we didn't have anything to do with putting the main slave-trading hall here, but our home _is_ one of the two political centres of our world, like it or not."

"So most of the Cetra who're likely to buy slaves keep some sort of home nearby, and they combine buying slaves with some sort of political efforts." She shouldn't be surprised by Zack's swift and accurate summary; he'd belonged to other Cetra before her, usually high nobility, like her, but she was.

"Yes. And the slave-trading hall near the Council buildings is almost as large for similar reasons." She pulled gently at his arm with a sigh, accepting that she'd spent enough time watching the snow falling, and she could probably talk Cloud into lending her his consort or his concubine to play with. "You don't have to keep watching this with me; I'm sure you don't find it as fascinating as I do, and I can find something else to do if you're worried about leaving me alone with my thoughts." He let go of Aeris, but even without looking at him she could tell it was reluctantly.

"It never snowed where I grew up - I was ten before I saw it snow, and my previous owners tended to stay in areas where it didn't snow much. I still find it nice to watch it snowing for a while." Then he'd probably never had the chance to _play_ in the snow either.

"Come with me then Zack, we can wrap up warm and build a snowman, or have a snowball fight." She turned to look at her bodyguard, and tugged at his arm, glad of the chance to just play for a while.

"Sure, that sounds fun. We can swing by the kitchen and have someone prepare hot drinks for us every hour or so to warm us up too." Zack had an eager grin on his face, but he was still thinking of her comfort.

"That's a great idea. We can stay out longer that way, can't we?"


	5. Chapter 5

When they arrived in the courtyard of the inn Zack made sure to swing off his chocobo first, scratching Nox briefly behind the ear before moving to give Aeris a hand down from Negra, her black.

"I still wish you'd agreed to accept some of Cloud's guards for the journey; Eldran and Coran perhaps." They were the two who'd been on duty during that hospital attack, and both Zack and Aeris got on best with them.

"Zack, we checked for reports of bandit or terrorist activities on our path beforehand, and there was nothing. You dealt with the only monsters that attacked us easily enough, and tomorrow night we'll be guesting with Sheran. This is the only place we won't be guesting with one of the high nobility you've decided can be trusted not to harm me while I visit on the way to attend that Council session. And it's late." It was getting dark; they'd had to do a hard day's riding to get here, setting off early, and they'd have to set off equally early tomorrow, but Zack was determined that Aeris was _not_ going to camp out with just him there to guard her.

"All right, just...let me do the talking? Please?" He didn't want to draw too much attention to Aeris, and with any luck it would just be humans, who would assume she was a Cetra noble and didn't want to deal with 'the lesser races' herself. Some of his previous owners had acted that way, counting humans only worthy to speak directly with when owned by Cetra.

"If it will make you feel better. But I really don't get why you're insisting on that." And she did sound confused, even if she was clearly willing to accept what he'd decided. It was the one thing that made him feel comfortable about acting as her bodyguard; for all that Aeris insisted on travelling with just him when she thought she could manage with just the two of them she knew enough to stay out of the way when he was protecting her. Some of the healer caste Cetra he'd belonged to had been stupid enough to demand that they'd fight beside their bodyguards - that was expected and even accepted from _warrior caste_, but not really from healer caste. When they'd been attacked by a pack of five Levrikons Aeris had just put up a barrier around herself and Negra, and left the fighting to him and to Nox, which was exactly what Sephiroth and Morgan had trained him for when he'd asked about how to fight on a chocobo.

"If people think you have problems dealing with humans they won't expect us to stop off in the common room or the bar to socialise, and we can get straight to bed." Zack realised what that sounded like, and blushed as he tried to explain things. "I didn't mean...I wouldn't presume...it's just..."

"We _need_ to get to sleep pretty soon, I know." Aeris smiled at him and began leading Negra towards the stables, standing back and letting him arrange for their chocobos to be ready for them to leave at half an hour past dawn the next day. It didn't do much damage to their plan, since a lot of the Cetra who preferred not to deal with humans paid more attention to their animals than they would to any human. He knew better than to touch her as they made their way to the main inn building, with him following just one step behind her and to one side, but he stepped between her and the man who approached her.

"Ah...sir, how can I serve you and the most noble lady?" The innkeeper was acting disgustingly obsequious, but Zack knew better than to let his distaste show - even if it wouldn't affect the quality of service they received the sort of Cetra Aeris was pretending to be would never choose a bodyguard who didn't like that sort of fawning. Contempt, now that would be okay, but he shouldn't let it show until _after_ he'd sorted out their rooms for the night, before that he should stick to arrogance.

"We require two rooms, connected. What do you have available?" He kept his voice curt, speaking as little as possible to avoid betraying his feelings.

"Yes sir, of course." And he even bowed as he spoke. "Does the most noble lady wish the only way to enter her room to be through yours?"

"Yes, show us to those rooms. _If_ they are of acceptable quality." He let a hint of doubt into his voice, wondering if that would put a bit of steel into the man's spine. But it didn't, he just bowed lower, apparently ignorant of the fact that the rooms would _have_ to be acceptable, given the fact that it was almost sunset and there wasn't another inn in less than two hours ride.

"Yes sir, if you and the most noble lady would follow me." Zack didn't try to hide his wariness as Aeris preceded him after the innkeeper, keeping his sword ready to hand, even though he wouldn't show a lack of confidence by keeping his hand on the hilt. He was glad to see that she stopped outside the door the innkeeper opened, and Zack didn't hesitate to order the man to go in ahead of them. He nodded for Aeris to enter, once he'd checked that the rooms were both clear and waited as she made a show of inspecting them.

"Will these rooms serve my lady?"

"Under the circumstances, yes. I want a cup of hot chocolate before I go to sleep."

"As my lady wishes. Send a cup of hot chocolate up for my lady, tomorrow send someone up with porridge for the both of us, coffee for me and..."

"Mulled cider. They won't have any decent herbal blends." Zack smiled as he realised she must have seen how the sort of Cetra she was pretending to be tended to act from her dismissive tone.

"You heard her, send them up half an hour before dawn, and send bowls of hot water and some soap up at dawn. Now, go. We'll pay before we leave." Zack let his contempt for the man slip into his voice now.

"Yes sir. As you wish." But he still bowed repeatedly as he backed out. Zack returned to his room, leaving Aeris to get ready for bed while she waited for her hot chocolate to be sent up. He took the cup from the girl sent up, and carried it through to Aeris, making sure she was comfortable before he went to bed himself.

oxOX()XOxo

He woke to the sound of terrified screaming, coming from _Aeris'_ room, and he grabbed his sword as he rolled from the bed to his feet. She hadn't locked the door, but Zack would have quite happily broken it down if she had, and he threw the door back against the wall to keep anyone from hiding behind it as he scanned the room. He crossed over to Aeris' bed in three swift steps, noting that she'd stopped screaming and lay back open-eyed and shaking.

"Zack!" She threw herself at him and he caught her against his chest with his free arm, hugging her to his chest as he watched the room for whatever it was that had made her scream like that. It made him feel a bit better to have his charge pressed up against him, so he knew she was safe while he checked for any threats.

"My lady, can you tell me what made you scream like that?" He'd looked, but he couldn't see any threats, and he knew that Aeris wasn't the sort to allow herself to be panicked by something inconsequential.

"I...it was a nightmare. I don't have them often, but it's almost always the same thing; a twisted version of how we, my mother and I, escaped from Hojo, but made horror in a different way each time." She wasn't crying exactly, but she was still shaking just a little bit, and he stroked her back to help calm her a bit more, whispering comforting words to her.

"My lady, will you be able to sleep now?" Zack waited until Aeris had calmed a bit before saying anything, but they _did_ need to get some sleep before they rode out tomorrow.

"I don't know. Probably not." Aeris sounded unhappy as she pushed away from him, and her hands fell to rest on his thighs. "What happened to your pants?" At least his nakedness was making her feel better, because she was giggling as she asked the question.

"I forgot them in my hurry to get to you." He shrugged and smiled, certain she'd understand that his state of dress _wasn't_ his top priority at the time. "I normally sleep naked, and I'm glad you can find some amusement in that."

"Sorry, I shouldn't make fun of you for being so worried about me." A year ago, before Sephiroth chose him for Aeris he'd never have believed an apology from any Cetra was more than a way of mocking him, but now he was only annoyed that she was upset again. He hadn't _meant_ to make her unhappy.

"It's alright, I wasn't offended or anything. Is there anything I can do to help you get back to sleep?" He wouldn't have cared that any of his previous owners had suffered from a nightmare, or worried about getting them back to sleep, but Aeris was different with her almost innocent shows of affection, and he cared about her.

"I...when I had nightmares before my mother or sometimes my brother would come and sleep with me for the rest of the night. But..."

"Do you want me to go put some pants on, or would you feel uncomfortable using me as your teddy bear?"

"Thank you. I didn't like to ask. Just...can you leave your sword back in your room?" He glanced unhappily at the open door at that request, and she quickly modified it. "Or at least put it somewhere I won't be seeing it or worrying about it?"

"That I can do. Which side of the bed do you want me on?"

"You can take this side." With that Aeris pulled away, leaving room for Zack to climb into bed, and he carefully laid his sword down, pushing it just a little bit under the bed before going to grab some soft pants. Once he got back he climbed into the bed, thankful that it was a double bed, and lay on his side, facing Aeris and waiting to see what she needed. She immediately turned her back on him, and pressed against his chest, he held her there protectively, and let himself relax into sleep when _her_ breathing changed enough to tell him that she'd done the same.

oxOX()XOxo

Note; no one's reviewed this here since the first chapter, I'm not going to make threats or anything, but all authors like feedback, and I'm no exception.


	6. Chapter 6

"Just put them there, at the base of the tree." Aeris pointed out the old oak to the three servants carrying furs for her and stood back as they piled them up against the trunk between two roots. The presence of this tree was one of the reasons the palace had been built where it was, because she'd loved the oak, partly because she'd known it was older than the city Ifalna had died in and so their home had been built around it, as well as around a few of the other trees nearby. She'd been asked if there were any trees beside the oak that she wanted preserved, but she'd known some of the trees of her childhood refuge would be sacrificed.

Once the servants had gone she felt free to bury herself in the furs and curl up, pressing the hot water bottle she'd been carrying to her stomach to relieve some of her period pains. She _hated_ how unpredictable it was, the way she could never tell whether she'd be okay, capable of doing whatever she _needed_ to do, or like _this_, hurting too badly to do anything. The only good thing was that at least she always knew _exactly_ when she was due to start, every thirty-one days, so she could schedule three days when she wasn't needed for anything when she started her period. She sometimes felt a bit guilty about that since she'd turned eighteen, on the months she was fine, seeing how hard it was for Cloud to get even two free days in a row, but then there were months like this and she remembered how bad it could be for her.

She whimpered as a particularly bad cramp hit and pressed her hot water bottle a bit closer to her stomach. Isis had never been sympathetic about this, telling her to count herself lucky that her cramps were only bad once every three to four months on average, and claiming that bad cramps would make it easier for her to give birth when the time came. She pushed that thought out of her head and uncurled a bit, pushing the furs over her head aside to give her room to breathe more easily, as her cramps eased a fraction.

"My lady?" She stuck her head out of the furs when Zack called for her so uncertainly.

"What is it Zack?" He was kneeling beside her, and she didn't try to hide her irritation, until she saw the bar of chocolate he was holding out to her.

"I...thought this might help? With your cramps?" She didn't like the way he made his kind offer into a question, but her sense of guilt for snapping at him like that didn't stop her snatching the chocolate from his hand. But when she looked at it she made herself sit up, still pressing her hot water bottle to her stomach, but leaning her back against the tree, and pulling one fur to rest between her back and the trunk.

"This is the _really_ good stuff." 86 cocoa solids and she couldn't resist the temptation to _sniff_ at the 100g bar as she opened the packing and broke the first piece off. "Thank you Zack. But...why?" She put the tiny bit of chocolate into her mouth and almost purred at the intense chocolate taste as it melted on her tongue.

"To hear that for one thing. I...belonged to female Cetra as often as male before Sephiroth chose me for you, and one of them would send me for dark chocolate every month without fail. Her first bodyguard was a woman too, and she got...snappish about that time as well." Zack shivered, and Aeris just knew there was something he wasn't telling her, but decided not to ask, since she was sure it would upset him. "Anyway I asked her, the bodyguard, not my owner, why I was only sent for chocolate those four days every month, and she told me that it helped with 'that time of the month' for some women."

"Yes, it would. Chocolate triggers the release of endorphins, a natural painkiller, and the darker it is, the higher the percentage of cocoa solids, the better it works. Dark chocolate's better for you than milk chocolate too, and white chocolate's worst of all. I never thought of trying this, I just knew that normal painkillers don't really work, and heat helps at least a little bit." Aeris smiled at Zack as she explained why chocolate helped and why she hadn't used it before.

"Oh. _Is_ it helping?" Aeris smiled and nodded when Zack paused. "Good. That thing about my last owner. She was pretty pissed the one time there wasn't the sort of chocolate she wanted available, especially since the darkest stuff I could find was just 48 cocoa solids."

"The cheap stuff then." Aeris didn't try to hide her distaste for that; as far as she was concerned any dark chocolate worth eating was _at least_ 60 cocoa solids, any dark chocolate she'd tasted with less than that was always oddly...dry for lack of a better word. "It might be better for you then milk chocolate, but it doesn't taste as good. Here, did you ever get to try any of that chocolate you brought for your owner then?" She broke off a bit of the chocolate bar and held it out to Zack, because she'd feel really selfish if she kept it all for herself. She didn't expect him to lean forward and take her fingers into his mouth as well as the chocolate, but it sent an odd thrill of heat through her as his tongue swirled around her fingers while he pulled back, and she found herself making a weird sound.

"No, I didn't. Thank you my lady. That was wonderful." And his voice made her _blush_ at the sensuality implied in his eyes; Aeris was pretty sure he wasn't thanking her for the _chocolate_ she shared with him.

"No, thank _you_." She put the bar of chocolate to one side, and leaned forward out of her furs to hug him quickly as she spoke. "This is helping me, it wasn't something I'd thought of before." Although she thought it was as much the fact that Zack was here talking to her and distracting her as the chocolate that was helping her; it had helped a bit when Sephiroth had been able to talk to her when she had cramps but she knew he couldn't do that anymore. For the first time she realised that Zack was sexy; she'd understood intellectually that he was attractive, but she hadn't wanted him before, even if her desire wasn't anything urgent, rather a slow curl of heat low in her belly.

"Is there anything else I can do to help?" And he was _genuinely_ concerned about her, she could tell, and that made her feel so good.

"Just stay here and talk to me, keep me distracted, please." She took another piece of chocolate, wondering just where he'd gotten it, but not about to be so rude as to actually ask.

"Distraction, sure I can do that. I can be pretty distracting when I want to be." Zack settled down on the ground without complaint, grinning at her, and Aeris realised just how considerate he was. Considering how much stronger than her he was it would be a good thing in a lover...and an even better thing in a consort.


	7. Chapter 7

Being rude to your equals shows a lack of courtesy, being rude only to those you consider your inferiors shows a lack of _courage_. I will meet with you only as I must." Aeris kept her voice calm and was careful not to slip over the edge into rudeness as she spoke to the Cetra who'd done their best to ignore Sephiroth's efforts at greeting them, treating him like a servant, then talking among themselves in his hearing about what a pity it was that Aeris and Cloud cared so much about 'that mongrel'. If she'd been there, at least within their line of sight they'd probably have treated him a bit better, and Aeris regretted only arriving in time to catch the tail end of their viciousness, not in time to intervene in defence of her brother.

None of them seemed to have the sense to come up with any sort of reply, and Aeris turned on her heel, determined to find a way to work her anger and frustration out. The training hall, that would be good; she could imagine that one of the training dummies was the leader of that pack of bigots. And the _worst_ thing about it was the look of resignation on Sephiroth's face; would he have ever told her or Cloud how he was being mistreated...or had this happened before and he'd kept quiet about it?

She grabbed a staff from the armoury and marched straight to the nearest free training dummy to launch a flurry of furious blows against it. As she attacked she superimposed the face and body of Marian over the dummy, imagining the sounds of pain she wanted so badly to hear her make.

"...misbegotten, bigoted, hypocritical bastard...waste of breath and life-force...filthy sadist...imbecilic coward..."

"You aren't talking about me I hope?" She spun in place to look at Zack, only realising then that she'd actually been cursing their visitors aloud; albeit in a mutter.

"No...it's our guests." She didn't want to explain it to Zack, but he seemed to sense that, hefting his sword in his right hand.

"Want to spar then? Might be a better way of working your anger off than beating up a defenceless training dummy." Aeris attacked at once, making no effort to defend herself, focusing everything on trying to land a blow on Zack; she knew he wouldn't _hurt_ her after all, and he didn't even attack, only defending himself. When she finally lost her anger, because it was almost impossible to maintain it when dealing with that calm defence and care for her, she was too tired to keep on attacking at the same pace. So tired in fact that she dropped her staff to the floor. Zack quickly put his sword down, and stepped forward to pull her into a hug, comforting and supporting her, and Aeris let herself collapse into his strong arms until she got herself back together.

"Thank you Zack, I needed that." She pushed herself away from his embrace, reluctantly, prepared to go and pretend she didn't hate the bastards who'd hurt her brother, that she wasn't going to be imagining them dying to keep from being rude to them. She would take great pleasure in refusing healing to Marian were the woman to appear before her with an infected gut-wound

"I'm glad to help. Do you need to talk about it?" She'd already mentioned the _immediate_ problem, so he wasn't asking about that...could she trust him enough to share the deeper issue? He didn't have any reason to betray her, or any investment in the current power structure independent of her own status, and...truthfully even if her secret did come out he'd suffer from it far more than she would. Still, a quick check that he understood what he was asking was needed.

"I've exorcised the surface problem with your aid. Are you asking about the deeper issues that gave rise to it?" She bent quickly to pick up her staff, as a distraction from Zack's response.

"If it will make you feel better to talk about them, then yes. I just want to help you, and talking does help a lot of times." Aeris wondered how he'd learned that...she didn't think he had experience carrying the sort of secret that gave rise to most of her impatience with the more close-minded of the Cetra. But it didn't matter, he was offering, and she thought it would be nice to let _someone_ know what she sometimes wished, someone who'd probably sympathise with her.

"Come on, we shouldn't talk about this here." From the way the warrior caste training here were glancing at her Aeris knew that they assumed she wanted privacy because she expected to be getting emotional about this. They were partly right, but mostly wrong, not surprising considering what she intended to tell Zack and how well she'd managed to hide it from everyone. Zack smiled and let her lead him away to her quarters, and she hesitated before deciding to take him to the bedroom intended for her future consort. She was certain that it hadn't been bugged yet, which she couldn't say for her own bedroom, and she refused to invade Zack's privacy - but she still cast a quick spell to keep their words private.

"Shit, what's bothering you so badly that you've got to go that far to keep it secret?" Zack looked - and sounded - more than a little shaken by her actions, not that she could blame him for that, or for the way he leaned against the wall for support.

"How I really feel about the Cetra Restoration at times." She sat down on the bed and turned her attention to smoothing out a few of the wrinkles in her skirt as a distraction for her hands and eyes while she talked. "I'm fairly safe and it would just be a social problem for me if people learned that I sometimes wish it had never happened but you'd be in trouble if people learned that I'd told you that and so might my brother."

"I don't get it. Why would Sephiroth be in trouble? And...what could make _you_ wish the Cetra Restoration hadn't happened?" Aeris could understand precisely why there was so much disbelief in Zack's voice; she had a very good life now, far safer than she'd been before Cloud came and dragged her to wake the rest of the Cetra.

"Because Sephiroth, or more accurately the way far too many Cetra treat him, is the reason I sometimes wish the Cetra Restoration never happened. Marian treated him like he was _nothing_ and he just had to stand there and _take_ it. I know that if the Cetra Restoration hadn't happened he'd have a good life, and more control over his life than he's ever had, and I know there's people who suffer because we took over as well."

"Yeah, but you guys stopped a war by coming back when you did. Lots of people would have died in that, and from what the older guys have said, the ones who used to be SOLDIERs there was this group called ShinRa who would have been in total control of the Planet if they'd won that war. And they'd have been much more repressive than you could ever be." Zack came over to kneel in front of Aeris, taking her hands in his with a faint smile. "I...you're really empathic and caring, to understand that for some of us the Cetra Restoration just means pain, but you can't second-guess yourself all the time."

Aeris laughed at that, letting her bodyguard distract her from her dark thoughts as she lifted her hand to stroke his hair.

"Thank you. It's sweet of you to say that. I can't change how I feel, and I don't want to stop being angry when my brother's hurt or insulted, but I'll try not to feel guilty about my own part in bringing the Restoration about."


	8. Chapter 8

"Zack, are you busy?"

"Not if you need me my lady." He'd been on his way to the armoury when Aeris called to him, but he could train later.

"Well, I need to talk to you. Preferably somewhere a bit more comfortable." Zack wasn't sure he liked how that sounded, but if she wanted to be comfortable then at least she was intending to spend a while talking to him.

"Then I'm all yours. Do you want to go back to your rooms, or would you prefer one of the gardens?"

"One of the gardens will do." She spoke a bit absently, and Zack was sure that she was already thinking about whatever it was she wanted to tell him. "The one where you gave me chocolate for my period pains that first time." There were some comfortable places to sit there, and Zack offered Aeris his arm without thinking about it. She actually _blushed_ as she rested her hand on his arm with a giggle, faintly, but it was visible, to him at least. It was comforting, easing his nervousness, since he was sure she wouldn't blush unless it was something intimate.

Still, his previous masters had seemed to feel some weird obligation to tell him in person when they decided to sell him and she could be regretting telling him her secret two months ago. He'd thought that by being Aeris' first bodyguard he would have security, but...the only type of slave that _couldn't_ be sold was a first concubine, lie Tseng was. Except, if a first bodyguard was sold it was assumed that he'd done something _really_ wrong, healer caste tended to bond to their first bodyguards pretty strongly from what he'd seen, and it too some pretty serious misconduct to break that bond. If Aeris sent him away then he'd end up in some sort of hellish position, never to be trusted, or considered of any real value, and worse because he was enhanced, able to take more damage than anyone but a warrior caste Cetra.

"Sit down Zack." Aeris smiled up at him, dashing his fears; she wouldn't be _smiling_ if he'd angered her, or if she didn't trust him. He obeyed, settling in a half lotus on the grass in front of her while she perched on one of the tree roots, watching his lady all the time. "I'm...not sure how to put this politely so I'll just be blunt. Are you interested in me...romantically or sexually speaking? Tell me the truth please, not just what you think I want to hear."

"Yes, I am, but only if you want me...I know it's not my place to start anything." He didn't quite understand why Aeris was bothering to ask him how he felt about her, no other Cetra had bothered checking if he was interested...except she'd asked for the truth, did that mean she wouldn't want him unwilling?

"Well, there's a few things you should know before anything happens. First...I think I could love you, and I'm fairly sure you'd make a good consort. That's why I'm telling you this; if I was just interested in sex you wouldn't need to know. If...you don't think you could _be_ my consort, tell me now, and, and...we can move this to my bedroom."

But she was obviously nervous about the idea, even though Zack recognised the appreciative look in her eyes as they darted over his body, avoiding his face and he moved to kneel closer, so he could rest a hand on her knee as he smiled up into her face. "I don't think that's a good idea. You're not really ready yet, are you?"

"No." She was laughing as she responded, and Zack felt relieved to hear that. "I _thought_ I was, but..." Then Aeris shook her head, probably to clear it before she changed the subject. "But you didn't answer my question, do you think you could become my consort at some point? If that's a possibility we can't have sex until after the ceremony, and if it isn't you don't need to know this."

"I...just don't know." Zack moved his hand back as he sat back on his heels, looking down while he thought about it. Aeris was beautiful, kind and generous, and she _trusted_ him, more than he'd ever dreamed a Cetra would; he wanted her, he _liked_ her, he just hadn't dared take the risk of seeing if he could love her. "I like you, but I don't know if I could love you, or fall in love with you, and I don't know if I could handle the job of being your consort."

"But it is a possibility, you _might_ be willing to be my consort?" Shit, she had to think this was important, and that she might not get the courage up to talk about this with him if she was pushing it _this_ hard; it wasn't like Aeris at all.

"I...yes, if I can fall in love with you and convince myself I can handle the job then I'd be willing to be your consort. But I know I couldn't handle what Sephiroth goes through."

"You wouldn't have to." Aeris didn't look happy as she shook her head, but Zack was pretty sure her displeasure came from the thought of how her brother was abused. "You aren't enhanced as much as he is, or in the same way; a difference in type, rather than degree. And I'm not warrior caste and you're already known as my bodyguard." And that was an almost traditional way for a healer caste Cetra to meet her consort, especially among the high nobility. "There are some things we need to talk about then. I need to know what _you_ know about the position of consort, at least as it relates to children."

"Umm...just that my children wouldn't be your heirs if you chose me as your consort. But they won't be slaves either?" He'd heard stories that any children born as enhanced humans would be enslaved whether or not one parent was free, even if normally a child with one free parent was born free, but surely that wouldn't happen to children _Aeris_ gave birth to?

"Yes they'd be free, even if they were born human, even enhanced human. But as enhanced humans they'd be...limited in what options they have for their career paths. No one would trust them with weapons technology for instance, or more than basic medical training." She sounded regretful about that, and Zack smiled up at her in relief and gratitude. "If we ended up with healer caste Cetra they'd be fine, low nobility at least, even if they did turn out physically stronger than usual and pure human children would get fairly safe positions in whatever they wanted to do. I could probably manage to set up some sort of small trust for them as well. But the other thing is that I personally would feel it was my duty not to carry any of your children until I'd produced at least one child by my spouse."

"Right." He didn't get why that was important, and Zack knew there was a blank look on his face as he replied to her. "It's not like having kids is the main point of being with someone though. I mean if it _was_ Cloud wouldn't be with Sephiroth. Or Tseng."

"I suppose not. I just get caught up, knowing I have a duty to produce children, and that shades how I see things. I had a destiny from when I was born, even though it's mostly fulfilled now. The Planet always sounded so _sad_ as it sung to me, up until Cloud came into his power, and I knew my destiny would be painful then, so I ran from it as hard as I could. Even when my destiny changed because Cloud was involved I kept on running from it until he made me see my duty." That explained why she was so hot on doing her duty now, she felt guilty about trying to avoid it before - and it fitted with her odd insistence on having her pure healer caste Cetra children first, even thought they'd legally outrank any kids she had by Zack whenever they were born.

"I appreciate it that you're willing to talk about all of this with me, that you think I deserve this sort of full disclosure, but...I can see this is hard for you, is there anything you think we need to talk about?" Zack stood up slowly as he spoke, deliberately stretching so that it didn't look as if he was trying to hint that he didn't want to hear anything else - he didn't, but if Aeris needed to tell him then he'd listen.

"No, I don't think I do. Thank you." She smiled up at him, holding out a hand for him to help her up, and when he did Zack couldn't resist the temptation to pull her into a quick hug.

"No, thank _you_, for being so painfully honest with me. I'll work on seeing you as a consort should. If you decide I'm not suitable before I work out if I can love you the way you deserve all I'm asking is that you tell me."

"I will, I promise." She pushed away from him with a light laugh, resting a hand against his left cheek as she stood on tiptoe to kiss his right cheek.


	9. Chapter 9

Aeris followed Zack into the cave he'd managed to find, too grateful to find shelter just as the storm hit to care what it was like. If she'd sensed the storm coming a bit earlier or if they'd stayed a bit closer to the inn they might have been able to get back there before it hit, but she'd been enjoying the chance to do something as normal as skiing with Zack. And he'd been treating it as a sort of date or something too, paying far more attention to her than he usually did when they were out in public - that was a good sign that he was considering her as a lover and she'd let that distract her as well.

"Come on, we should get as deep as we can." It wasn't a very deep cave, and it was widest at the entrance, but there was nothing they could do about that. Or was there?

"Zack, do you have an Ice materia on you?" She'd just given Zack a selection of materia to use, and let him choose which ones he should wear on each day, after Sephiroth had told her he'd learned as much as he needed to know. He still kept to the pattern she'd chosen almost three years ago, but he adjusted the choice of materia according to what he was expecting to face.

"No, I don't my lady. But I do have a Fire, and it's paired with an All, so I can heat the walls of the cave?" He made it a question, and Aeris smiled at him gratefully.

"Yes, that would be a good idea, but for later. We need to build as much of a wall across the entrance as we can first. Hopefully there won't be much snow blowing in here, but we can pack any snow that blows in around the stones of whatever sort of wall we can build."

"Good idea." Zack looked around the cave unhappily and Aeris could see why; it was far from perfect, but they simply didn't have _time_ to look for anything better. She'd been blown off her feet twice already and she was _not_ going to go out there again, or ask Zack to leave her. She let Zack work on muscling the bigger rocks towards the entrance, stopping about six feet from the back of the cave and looking at her for approval, which she gave with a nod.

"I'll get as many of the smaller rocks as I can from nearer the front then." It took them almost half an hour to muscle as many rocks and stones as they could into an approximation of a wall, but at least they stayed warm while they were working and they ended up with a sort of windbreak about four feet high.

"Take some of your clothes off while I heat the walls; you'll be sweating by now, and you need to get dried off."

"We can sit together as well, to share body heat, right?" But Aeris obediently removed her clothes, leaving her just wearing her bra and knickers as she spoke, noting that _Zack_ was stripping down as well, to his boxers.

"If you want. But we can't lean against the walls." Instead Zack sat down in the middle of the floor, his clothes spread out closer to the walls in imitation of Aeris' own actions as she undressed. She hesitated, then decided to make actions to words, moving over to sit on his lap, and wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he hugged her to his chest.

She found herself shivering in his arms, despite the surprising warmth he was supplying, but she knew well enough that the shivering was a good sign, that it meant she was getting warmer and she snuggled into Zack a bit more. She couldn't risk closing her eyes, even if they hadn't been out long enough for her to be in any real danger so she began making a mental inventory of the weapons Zack had laid out ready to hand. It seemed a bit excessive to her, for what they were doing, taking some time for leisure during her ceremonial visit to Icicle Inn, but _she_ wasn't trained to understand what sort of weaponry was needed and Zack was.

"Are you alright? You've stopped shivering." The concern in Zack's voice reminded Aeris where she was, and she made a quick check of how she felt before she answered.

"I'm fine; I've just managed to get warm." She hesitated, then pressed herself against him, resting her face in the crook of his neck, wriggling a bit in his hold and feeling him harden against her. She shouldn't have, but...it had been months since she spoke of the possibility of him becoming her consort, and it was good to know he wanted her at least.

Then Zack moved one hand to her face, moving her into position for him to kiss, just a hint of uncertainty in his eyes as his tongue darted over his lips before he pressed them to her own. It was nice, but he kept his mouth closed, kissing her _far_ too chastely for her taste, so Aeris opened her own mouth, and licked along Zack's lips until he opened to her. That felt _much_ better, especially when he started taking the initiative a bit more, pushing his tongue into her mouth, and she let her hands slide down Zack's back without thinking about it.

Zack's hands started to wander as well, stroking her body and making this feel even better. She hadn't known she could feel so good, outside of climax her own hands _never_ felt this good, even though Zack wasn't touching any of the areas she used when she was masturbating. Then he lifted a hand to her breast, starting to work under her bra and she pushed away from him in panic.

"Zack, we can't! Not unless you've decided you don't want to be my consort after all."

"I...I thought _you'd_ decided you were tired of waiting around for me to make up my mind, and you wanted to just take me as a lover." He sounded so unhappy about that, and Aeris couldn't do anything about it. And the worst part was the bubbling pleasure she felt at his pain, because if he was so hurt by the idea she wouldn't want him as a consort anymore he had to want to _be_ her consort.

"No, I don't just want you as a lover. I'll _settle_ for that if I have to, but I want a _consort_ and there's no one I'd want in that position but you."

"Then I'll be yours. I...I don't think I could stand to be your lover, knowing I'd given up the chance to be more than that to you."

"I'm glad. But...our clothes _are_ dry now." Or mostly dry. "We should get dressed, remove the temptation."

"Yeah, you're right." He let go of her reluctantly and she climbed off his lap.


	10. Chapter 10

Aeris smiled at Zack as she led him into her bedroom, looking oddly uncertain.

"You...know I'm a virgin, right?"

"Yes." It was pretty obvious she'd been a virgin when she asked him to consider becoming her consort, and as her bodyguard he'd have noticed it if she found a lover after that, especially since he was trying to work out if he could love her. "I'm not, does that bother you?"

"No. You were a slave, you didn't have any choice." She lifted a hand to rest against his cheek, laughing lightly as she continued. "Besides, _one_ of us needs to know what to do."

"I don't know about that my lady. I heard lots of kids have sex without any prior experience for either of them." Zack smiled at her to let her know he was only teasing.

"Sephiroth and Cloud were both virgins _their_ first time too." She sounded oddly amused by that as she lay down on the bed. "But...I thought you should know, if things were different, if Sephiroth wasn't so devoted to Cloud, didn't love me as a sister, I wouldn't be a virgin. I don't know if you remember, or if you realised what was going on, but...that first full day you belonged to me, when I dismissed Isis? I offered to let Sephiroth take my virginity if he wanted to. I had to, because I'd promised that, after I hurt him by giving Tseng to Cloud."

Zack couldn't say anything at first; he couldn't quite believe what Aeris was saying, at least not the calm, matter-of-fact way she explained it, as if giving her virginity to her brother as an _apology_ was something perfectly rational. But she was shifting uncomfortably on the bed, and he realised just how his silence might seem to her. He moved to lie beside her, without bothering to pull his boots off and gathered Aeris into his arms, hugging her against him.

"I don't understand. I thought Sephiroth _liked_ Tseng, so why did you giving him to Cloud hurt him?" He kissed her temple before she had a chance to answer. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to; I'm just honoured that you'd give me such great gifts, your trust, as well as your virginity."

"He likes Tseng _now_, but...I didn't follow the proper forms when I gave Tseng to Cloud, it was as much a surprise to Sephiroth as it was to Cloud, so he saw it as a betrayal, and I couldn't blame him for that." She shut her eyes, shaking slightly in his arms. "I _had_ to offer him some sort of reparations, and that was the best I could think of offering."

All Zack could do was hold Aeris, stroking her hair and back and whispering reassuring words into her ear. He couldn't think of anything else to make her feel better, no matter how much he wanted to. Eventually she stilled, and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his throat, making him freeze in surprise.

"We...should do _something_ tonight. I don't want there to be any doubt..." Doubt? Zack wasn't sure what Aeris was getting at, but he could see she was still nervous, even if he wasn't certain why. He kissed her gently, waiting for her to open her mouth to him, and eventually when she did he carefully slid his tongue over her teeth, pulling away reluctantly when she seemed to relax a bit.

"Might I undress you?" He smiled at her, waiting for permission.

"Please, go ahead. I...show me what to do, make me feel good. Please?" It looked like that test of Cloud's was going to be closer to reality than Zack ever could have imagined and he pulled his boots off before he did anything else.

"I'll be gentle, I promise." He leaned forward to kiss her again, and she wrapped her arms around him, briefly, then pushed lightly at his chest.

"Wait...can you get undressed first?" She suddenly seemed uncertain, and Zack could tell that a slow striptease wouldn't help, so he simply peeled his clothes off as quickly as he could.

"Is this better my lady?" This time he made sure to lie down _beside_ Aeris, instead of leaning over her.

"Yes, thank you."

"I'm glad." He reached out and turned her face towards him for a kiss, running his hand lightly down along her throat, and over the exposed top of her breasts. He left his hand there, just stroking her skin gently as he kissed her, until she seemed to relax a bit, then he sat up, pulling her to straddle his knees. "Is this position okay for you?"

"It's fine." Zack kissed Aeris again at that, distracting her from the way he worked at the buttons down her spine, unfastening them one by one. Then he pushed the bodice down to her waist, still kissing Aeris, enjoying the little noises of pleasure she made. He rested his hands on her waist as he finally pulled back to speak to her.

"Could you stand up please?" She giggled a bit as she obeyed, letting her dress fall to the floor, and Zack turned her so her back was to the bed as he stood up himself, hands at her narrow waist. "I want to taste you everywhere. Will that be a problem for you?" He skimmed his hands up along her ribs as he spoke, ending with one hand cupping her right breast, the other resting between her shoulder blades and kissed her throat in illustration.

"Please." Her voice sounded weak, and Zack decided that he'd asked enough for the moment; he had her consent and he wasn't going to do more than kiss and taste for now. He kissed his way down Aeris' throat as she tossed her head back and then down over the curve of the breast he was cradling, enjoying the fact that there wasn't a bra to get in the way. He suckled briefly at her nipple, enjoying the quiet sounds of pleasure that won him, then licked towards her breastbone before kissing her just over the heart. He let his left hand drop to Aeris' hip where he traced patterns over her skin with a light touch as he licked his way over to her left nipple, this time letting his teeth graze ever so lightly against her skin as he sucked carefully then kissed down the lower curve of her breast. He began sinking slowly to his knees, left hand trailing down Aeris' spine as he kissed his way down over her stomach, tasting her skin as he moved, then sliding his tongue into her navel when he reached it.

"Aaah!" Aeris moaned, and as he glanced up Zack could see she was clutching the sheets behind her for balance...he hadn't thought he was so close to overwhelming her senses.

"You can grab my shoulders, or my hair if you want." She didn't say anything, but he could feel her hands move to his shoulders while he kissed his way diagonally down to her left hip, then over it to the top of her thigh. He could smell her pleasure now, but as he helped her sit he left her panties where they were, kissing down the inside of her thigh to her knee, then shifting to the other leg and kissing his way back up. Finally he nuzzled against her damp green silk panties, licking her through them for a moment before glancing up at her, one hand at the waistband.

"Might I?"

"Hmmm...yesss." Pleasure thickened her voice, and glancing up Zack could see Aeris' eyes were half closed, a smile curving her lips. He pulled her panties down and tossed them aside then leaned forward and began to taste Aeris properly. He started with small, gentle licks, basing his further explorations on how she reacted, and avoiding her clitoris until she grabbed him by the hair and began showing him where to focus his attention. He didn't stop when she climaxed, hoping that he could...yes, he managed to push her over into another orgasm, but then she started to push him away from her.

"Up, now." Zack climbed onto the bed at Aeris' urging and let her push him down against the covers, enjoying the way she climbed on top of him and kissed him. He lay back, letting her do whatever she wanted, but making sure to give plenty of positive feedback in the form of moans of pleasure and pleas for more as she kissed her way down his body. When she reached his groin she hesitated, and Zack reminded himself not to get his hopes up just as she took him into her mouth.

She was a bit clumsy, her teeth scraping against his cock as she pulled back, but he didn't care; it was enough that she was bothering to do this for him and he couldn't help thrusting into her mouth as he crumpled the sheets in his fists. She almost choked then, pulling away from him, and Zack half sat up, reaching for her anxiously.

"I'm sorry..."

"No, don't be. Just lie back again." She was looking nervous again, and Zack obeyed rather than risk making her unhappy. Then she impaled herself on him, and started moving and he did his best to make sure she enjoyed what they were doing as well, lifting his hands to her breasts and running them over her sides, holding back until she climaxed for the third time. Finally she climbed off him and lay down beside him, letting him wrap her in his arms.


End file.
